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Article Published: Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Swift layoffs likely to have ripple effect
The meatpacking plant's announcement that it will cut 800 jobs could mean $35 million in lost wages.
By Robert Barba
Denver Post Staff Writer
Greeley - The layoff of 800 workers at the Swift & Co meatpacking plant in Greeley could mean as much as $35 million in lost wages to the area.
Greeley Mayor Tom Selders said on Monday that the lost jobs will have a significant impact on the local economy.
"There will be a lot less dollars out there," he said. "We are disturbed and distressed over this."
Ron Klaphake, president of the Greeley/Weld Economic Development Office, said the lost wages could total between $20 million and $35 million.
Swift is the largest employer in the area with 3,500 workers, according to the Greeley/Weld Chamber of Commerce.
The layoffs will take place Friday, said Swift spokesman Jim Herlihy. The list of which workers will be laid off was posted at the plant Monday.
The company notified 1,100 workers in October of the pending layoff, Herlihy said. The higher number of notifications was an overestimate to make sure Swift complied completely with the law requiring 60 days prior notice of a layoff.
The company has changed its second-shift operations from initial slaughtering and cutting of cattle to a "further processing" line where employees make ready-to-sell and more specialized cuts, Herlihy said.
The move contributed to a decision to not renew a contract for cattle from ConAgra Foods Inc. feedlots in Colorado. The contract expires at the end of the year. Those feedlots supplied Swift with about 40 percent of the 5,000 to 5,500 cattle it processes each day.
Herlihy said Sunday that the drop in beef processing at the plant and demand not yet established for the ready-to-sell cuts forced the job reductions.
He said, however, the company plans to expand the second shift eventually.
Klaphake said less processing at the plant also means less work for truck drivers, cattle ranchers and other workers or contractors who rely on the plant for work.
The layoff affects nearly every job type at the meatpacking plant, said Fernando Rodriquez, a spokesman for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, which represents workers at the plant. He said the workers make between $11.25 and $13.10 an hour.
Jorge Hernandez, the union's chief steward who also works at the plant, said 200 employees have quit since the initial layoff notifications went out.
He said his job is to explain to the workers who will be laid off what their options are, such as unemployment benefits.
Under a new 5-year union contract approved last month, layoff selection was based on seniority, Rodriquez said.
Also, in the contract is a recall clause that states that workers who are laid off will have first opportunity at positions that open at the company. That could be a silver lining on the pink slip since, Herlihy said, the industry has a "historically high turnover rate."
The workers don't have many options for other jobs in the area - many of them are already commuting from places like Wyoming, Fort Collins and Fort Morgan, Hernandez said.
"They are worried about living; they will have no money for bills, no money for Christmas," he said. "They are saying, 'We are worried about our house, we are worried about our cars."'
Mississippi Beef Processors defaults on $35 million loan
by Deborah Silver on 12/15/04 for Meatingplace.com
Mississippi Beef Processors has defaulted on a state-backed $35 million loan used to build a 154,000-square-foot plant, which opened last August.
If company president Richard Hall does not come current with the loan, Community Bank, MBP's lender, will meet with the Mississippi Development Authority to devise a default plan. The authority will have two weeks to accept the plan or negotiate a new one.
"In the event that MBP cannot make a payment in January, and the bank's plan has been approved, the MDA can ask the bank to hold foreclosure to give the state a chance to get a new operator/buyer," says State Auditor Phil Bryant. "If a buyer is found, the purchase price is deducted from the guarantee due the bank."
In the meantime, the state has paid the facility's $167,000 electric bill and likely will pay its $49,000 natural gas bill. "My No. 1 interest has been in protecting the state's investment and trying to work this out for the best situation we can for cattle producers and the state of Mississippi," said Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Cindy Hyde-Smith. "We've just got to sit and wait right now because Richard Hall is still the owner."
Swift layoffs likely to have ripple effect
The meatpacking plant's announcement that it will cut 800 jobs could mean $35 million in lost wages.
By Robert Barba
Denver Post Staff Writer
Greeley - The layoff of 800 workers at the Swift & Co meatpacking plant in Greeley could mean as much as $35 million in lost wages to the area.
Greeley Mayor Tom Selders said on Monday that the lost jobs will have a significant impact on the local economy.
"There will be a lot less dollars out there," he said. "We are disturbed and distressed over this."
Ron Klaphake, president of the Greeley/Weld Economic Development Office, said the lost wages could total between $20 million and $35 million.
Swift is the largest employer in the area with 3,500 workers, according to the Greeley/Weld Chamber of Commerce.
The layoffs will take place Friday, said Swift spokesman Jim Herlihy. The list of which workers will be laid off was posted at the plant Monday.
The company notified 1,100 workers in October of the pending layoff, Herlihy said. The higher number of notifications was an overestimate to make sure Swift complied completely with the law requiring 60 days prior notice of a layoff.
The company has changed its second-shift operations from initial slaughtering and cutting of cattle to a "further processing" line where employees make ready-to-sell and more specialized cuts, Herlihy said.
The move contributed to a decision to not renew a contract for cattle from ConAgra Foods Inc. feedlots in Colorado. The contract expires at the end of the year. Those feedlots supplied Swift with about 40 percent of the 5,000 to 5,500 cattle it processes each day.
Herlihy said Sunday that the drop in beef processing at the plant and demand not yet established for the ready-to-sell cuts forced the job reductions.
He said, however, the company plans to expand the second shift eventually.
Klaphake said less processing at the plant also means less work for truck drivers, cattle ranchers and other workers or contractors who rely on the plant for work.
The layoff affects nearly every job type at the meatpacking plant, said Fernando Rodriquez, a spokesman for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, which represents workers at the plant. He said the workers make between $11.25 and $13.10 an hour.
Jorge Hernandez, the union's chief steward who also works at the plant, said 200 employees have quit since the initial layoff notifications went out.
He said his job is to explain to the workers who will be laid off what their options are, such as unemployment benefits.
Under a new 5-year union contract approved last month, layoff selection was based on seniority, Rodriquez said.
Also, in the contract is a recall clause that states that workers who are laid off will have first opportunity at positions that open at the company. That could be a silver lining on the pink slip since, Herlihy said, the industry has a "historically high turnover rate."
The workers don't have many options for other jobs in the area - many of them are already commuting from places like Wyoming, Fort Collins and Fort Morgan, Hernandez said.
"They are worried about living; they will have no money for bills, no money for Christmas," he said. "They are saying, 'We are worried about our house, we are worried about our cars."'
Mississippi Beef Processors defaults on $35 million loan
by Deborah Silver on 12/15/04 for Meatingplace.com
Mississippi Beef Processors has defaulted on a state-backed $35 million loan used to build a 154,000-square-foot plant, which opened last August.
If company president Richard Hall does not come current with the loan, Community Bank, MBP's lender, will meet with the Mississippi Development Authority to devise a default plan. The authority will have two weeks to accept the plan or negotiate a new one.
"In the event that MBP cannot make a payment in January, and the bank's plan has been approved, the MDA can ask the bank to hold foreclosure to give the state a chance to get a new operator/buyer," says State Auditor Phil Bryant. "If a buyer is found, the purchase price is deducted from the guarantee due the bank."
In the meantime, the state has paid the facility's $167,000 electric bill and likely will pay its $49,000 natural gas bill. "My No. 1 interest has been in protecting the state's investment and trying to work this out for the best situation we can for cattle producers and the state of Mississippi," said Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Cindy Hyde-Smith. "We've just got to sit and wait right now because Richard Hall is still the owner."
